The efficacy of intensive group treatment programs for child maltreatment has been established. The aim of this qualitative study was to understand how women with a history of child maltreatment experienced the Women Recovering from Abuse Program (WRAP), an existing intensive group treatment program. Seven women were interviewed following their participation in WRAP. Three themes emerged: Breaking Trauma-Based Patterns, Doing Therapy, and The Healing Journey as a Continuous Process. These findings deepen our understanding about how participants view the recovery process. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.

Research suggests that trauma has a profound effect on the body by disrupting normal physiologic responses leading to a broad range of trauma-related symptoms. In this paper, we describe a stage-one trauma group based on the clinical rationale and techniques of Pat Ogden's (2006) sensorimotor psychotherapy (SP). To date, there has been no empirical research to support the efficacy of this treatment approach. Ten women with a history of childhood abuse participated in 20 weekly sessions of SPinformed group therapy and were assessed at pretreatment, posttreatment, and at 6-month follow-up. Participants demonstrated significant improvement in body awareness, dissociation, and receptivity to soothing. This study of an SP-informed group therapy for women provides preliminary evidence of the effectiveness of SP in reducing trauma-related symptoms.

This article describes the Women Recovering from Abuse Program (WRAP), an outpatient day-hospital program for women suffering from the sequelae of childhood abuse. WRAP was conceived in 1998 by clinicians who advocated for its development based on a growing need to provide women who had experienced childhood trauma an alternative to an inpatient program. WRAP draws from a Stage 1 treatment approach to address chronic interpersonal trauma and dissociation by incorporating psychopharmacology, individual and group psychotherapy. The program is structured into two phases: a preparatory Building Resources Group (BRG) and an intensive multimodal segment comprised of seven types of group therapy. Each group is described in terms of the treatment rationale and its structure and process. Two research studies to date support the effectiveness of WRAP.